daveallan81

Here are the forenames of seven riders, all of whom have ridden UK league speedway at some time since 1965 - Pete, Nick, Denzil, Chris, Mick, Tyson and Pete. Can you provide each riders surname? No clues, just work the old grey matter...

I think that was the 1985 British Open at Wolverhampton. According to the yearbook it took 4 hours to run that meeting. The 1979 Inter-League Fours at Sheffield (3 x 16 heats) was, according to Speedway Star, "rattled through in just over five and a half hours".

The list I sent to Tony included Newtongrange for Major as one of his 62 tracks.

26th June was the first attempt to stage the Dave Perks Testimonial at Cradley Heath. The rained off meeting was billed as a four team event - can anyone tell me who the 4 teams were to be? More bad luck for Dave, the second attempt on 20th October was also washed out. Was this match to be Cradley v Dave Perks Testimonial Select as it was restaged on the 27th or was something else planned? Finally, can anyone confirm the result of 46-32 for the Swindon Sprockets v Central Junior League Select challenge staged on 29th October?

Thanks Arnie. I've since found a small reference to the alteration in SStar 18/9 which I didn't pick up on last night but even if I had, I would still have been seeking clarification. As my NZ friend pointed out, that will render Stancl's score in the yearbook wrong and it should read 7+1(4). Surprisingly the alteration doesn't rate a mention so it gives the appearance of the match finishing 55-23 on track.

Speedway Star reports the result as 56-22. This result is referred to in subsequent club columns on at least three occasions. The Reading programme from 27/09 shows the result as 56-22. The final BL table in SStar 6/11 reports Reading's race points totals as F 1078 A 1103 and Poole's 978.5 and 1204.5. The track reviews for Racers (27/11) and Pirates (15/1/83) concur with those totals and the 56-22 result is recorded as Reading's biggest home win and Poole's biggest away defeat. The SGB website table returns Reading 1077 & 1104 and Poole 979.5 & 1203.5. Richard Waller's 1982 yearbook reports the result as 55-23. Stancl is recorded as 7+2 (4) but 8+2 (4) in the Star. Smith 3(4) but 4(4) in SStar. Kennedy 2(4) but 0(4) in SStar. I believe there are two heats which require clarification: Heat 4: Gresham, Smith, Grahame, Kennedy. Heat 9: (rerun) Andersson, Stancl, Smith, Kennedy (disq), Prinsloo (ns). Can anyone untangle this one?

Funny thing is, in all the years I attended speedway I never encountered one supporter who looked as if they could fight their way out of a cold bath.

Result reported as 47-30 in yearbook. League tables in yearbook and on SGB website appear to acknowledge this result. Speedway Star reports it as 47-31. Rob Carter is reported as scoring his one point in heat 2, however the yearbook indicates he failed to score. To confuse matters slightly, Mark Fiora is reported as scoring 3 but the heat details indicate he scored 4, which is the figure returned in the yearbook. Heat 2 was reported as Mastrup, Fiora, Carter, Yeates (ret), no time. Can anyone confirm the result of the meeting? A second query, and one tinged with sadness. Having beaten Workington, Mildenhall were set to race Ellesmere Port in the second half of a double header. Sadly Henry Smith, Ray Bales' father-in-law and mechanic, suffered a fatal heart attack in the pits. The match report states that both sets of riders were unanimous in asking for the match to be called off. Speedway Star 17/10 reported "Ray Bales, who had been at the tapes for the first race when his father-in-law collapsed, was stunned and both the Mildenhall and Ellesmere Port teams were too shaken to go ahead with the second race of the double header." It may just be the way it is worded but I'd like to check whether the first heat actually took place or were proceedings called to an immediate halt?

$20000.

I take it they weren't planning on paying Adam Ellis then?

I can't help with Ipswich but I'm showing the Reading match as rained off, restaged 23rd October.

Ach I thought I could catch you out there. In my experience speed won't allay any fears, it's more likely to exasperate them. Can't really speak for coke, only tried that once and I thought it was a waste of money, but those I knew who hoovered it up all ended up thinking they were some sort of omnipitent being of unlimited strength, wisdom and power. The sorry truth was by the end of the night they couldn't have found their backside with both hands. And before you ask I never once rode a speedway bike under any influence although from the speeds I achieved it may have appeared that I was at least heavily sedated. Behind a drum kit, well, that's a different story. God, I miss my youth...

This meeting was rained off and not restaged. Who were the four teams scheduled to compete?

Certainly? Talking from experience are we?

Thanks to all for clearing most of these up. By way of an update, the 12/09 Mildenhall v Trackstar Sel is reported in a subsequent programme as 49-29 so clarification still required there. Also the SStar report for 25/10 Wimbledon v Hackney (London Cup) says that one heat was run before abandonment but doesn't give any further details so confirmation of that heat result is now required.

I presume your double header of lousy spelling is tongue in cheek.

If you care to take a closer look at those results you'll find that there are no PL results for July, August is a duplicate of the July page, and October is incomplete. There are sundry errors with dates and results throughout and to top it all off the EL table is wrong. I've exhausted the information from there and from every other internet source I've managed to find, My only other reference is the 2007 yearbook but it doesn't cater for postponements or record the reason why matches were abandoned. I have the 8th March rain off for the Ashley Jones meeting but I also have this date for the 9th, perhaps there was an attempt to quickly restage it? I've been in touch with Andy Povey at the website and offered to rebuild the 2006 results list for him. We're also looking at the possibility of adding the results for previous seasons back to 1965.

I've been compiling a 2006 results list for the SGB website. Having finally battered the results list I had into some sort of shape, I still need to confirm the following: 09/03 King's Lynn: Ashley Jones Memorial - postponed on date shown 12/03 Newport v Somerset (BCA Vehicle Remarketing Trophy 2nd Leg) - event as shown 14/05 Newcastle v Isle of Wight - reason for abandonment after heat 6 11/06 Newport v Plymouth - reason for abandonment after heat 13 19/06 Belle Vue v Eastbourne - reason for abandonment after heat 12 26/06 Belle Vue v Swindon - reason for abandonment after heat 12 05/07 Stoke v Scunthorpe - reason for abandonment after heat 12 21/07 Boston v Plymouth - reason for abandonment after heat 7 10/08 Isle of Wight: Smallbrook Spectacular - winner of speedway section 23/08 King's Lynn v Newcastle - reason for abandonment after heat 1 02/09 Berwick: B Raiders v Hull (Challenge) - postponed on date shown & home team name (Border? Berwick?) 29/09 Plymouth: Best Pairs - postponed on date shown & name of competition (if not just as shown) 29/10 Mildenhall: 2006 Fen Finale - postponed on date shown All help appreciated as always.

Thanks for that. The Leicester programme carrying Crump as the winner gives, I think, enough weight to the race wins then heat times theory to declare him the winner.

They did attempt to sort the tie for the last 3 places using heat times (involving Shiira, Teromaa, Titman & Molyneux) but that ruling was later rescinded and the four met in a run-off on 24th April. According to the Star, Sanders had the fastest winning time so it seems unlikely they applied that criteria. Thanks for the info.

10/04 Leicester: Gauntlet Midland Riders Championship Semi-Final Phil Crump, Geoff Bouchard and Billy Sanders all finished on 12 points. As this was a qualifying meeting no run-off was staged. Did the three simply share the spoils or did they apply a tie-breaker for the sake of declaring a 1-2-3? 14/04 Stoke v Red Star Prague Speedway Star carries no report. Yearbook states 'Match abandoned, track unfit for racing.' The fixture was listed in SStar 7/4 but not in 14/4. Was this a rain off or did they attempt to run the meeting? 12/09 Mildenhall v Trackstar Select Confirm result as 49-28 14/09 Peterborough v Weymouth Confirm abandoned after heat 2 with score 09-03 and reason for abandonment 20/10 Nottingham v Peterborough Confirm date. SStar recorded date as 21st however match report was amidst those for the 20th. Yearbook also reports 21st. SStar lists fixture for the 20th and makes two other references to that date in articles. 25/10 Swindon v Exeter Second half of double header. Confirm abandoned after heat 7 with score 23-19 and reason for abandonment. Confirm that the following meetings were rained off on the date shown: 25/10 Wimbledon v Hackney (London Cup) 26/10 Hackney: TSB Champions Chase 30/10 Nottingham v Cradley Heath 03/11 Cradley Heath: Nigel Wasley Memorial Pairs Any help appreciated as always.

I don't know about 69 or 70 but Boston ran three meetings in 1979 using a format they called 'Formula 5'. A 20-heat match was split into 5 sections of 4 heats, and a point was awarded to the winner of each section.

The worst racecard in the history of the sport https://app.box.com/s/5s7ggxs7156pfo0ww77n/1/536055648/5165045752/1

The phrase "walked away from" seems to be taking on a whole new meaning on this thread.

Two quick checks throw up Steve Lawson from 1980 who rode on 25 tracks (19 NL (ever present) & 6 BL) and would have scored one more had he not broken down en route to the NLRC at Wimbledon. He is surpassed by Kelvin Mullarkey in 1978 who got round 28 tracks (19 NL (ever present) & 9 BL).